1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and more particularly, to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus having a mechanism for loading a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recording and/or reproducing apparatuses are known which record or reproduce information signals on or from an information-recording medium such as an optical disk or a magnetooptical disk. This type of a recording and/or reproducing apparatus includes a holder in which an information-recording medium is inserted and held, a rotating mechanism placed below the holder to rotate the information-recording medium held in the holder, an optical pickup for recording or reproducing information signals on or from the information-recording medium, a base chassis in which the rotating mechanism and the optical pickup are provided, and a loading mechanism for loading and unloading the information-recording medium.
In the recording and/or reproducing apparatus, when an information-recording medium is inserted into the holder from an insertion slot provided in an outer housing, the holder is moved down toward the base chassis having the rotating mechanism by the loading mechanism. Subsequently, the information-recording medium held in the holder is loaded on the rotating mechanism provided in the base chassis.
In such a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, a flexible circuit board and so on are arranged between the base chassis and a lower surface of the outer housing. One end of the flexible circuit board is connected to a circuit board which is placed on the lower surface of the outer housing and on which a driving circuit for the optical pickup, and so on are provided, and the other end thereof is connected to a pickup base of the optical pickup. When the optical pickup is moved in the radial direction of the information-recording medium, the flexible circuit board moves between the lower surface of the outer housing and the base chassis while bending. For this reason, it is necessary to form, between the outer housing and the base chassis, a predetermined clearance in which the flexible circuit board can move smoothly.
Such a clearance between the lower surface of the outer housing and the base chassis is provided as a space in which the flexible circuit board moves when the optical pickup moves in the radial direction of the information-recording medium. Therefore, when the information-recording medium is not loaded, it is satisfactory that the clearance is enough to store the flexible circuit board, and does not need to have a sufficient height for smooth movement of the flexible circuit board. For this reason, an unnecessary space is formed between the lower surface of the outer housing and the base chassis.